Field



NITED STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

FRANCIS s. DANGERFIELD, or AUBURN, NEW YORK.

MATCH-SAFE.

SPEGIFICATION formi ug part of Letters Patent No. 229,101, dated June 22, 1880.

- Application filed December 30, 1879.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS S. DANGER- FIELD, of Auburn, in the county of Cayuga and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Match-Boxes; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a perspective View of the match box or safe as closed. Fig. 2 represents a perspective view'of the same as open and its cover provided with screws to secure the box to a wall or other stationary object. Fig. 3 represents a vertical section of the match-box closed. Fig. 4 represents a rear view, in perspective, of the box-cover. Fig. 5 represents a stopper-plate or shield removed from the box cover. Fig. 6 represents detached views of the match striker or igniter and its clamp or holder. Fig. 7 represents a detached View of the spring-arm and holder used to advance the matches. Fig. 8 represents detached views of the above holder and its spring. Fig. 9 represents detached views of the match-elevating foot and bottom guide.

My invention relates to that class of matchboxes designed more especially for carrying'in the pocket, although having also the requisite construction to be readily attached to walls, furniture, 860., and is an improvement upon the match-box for which 1 obtained Letters Patent No. 217 ,345, dated July 8, 1879, by

which improvement-I am enabled to obtain a a match striker or igniter provided with fanshaped grooves secured in a clamp having a curved bottom, and a conical or beveled foot secured to a slide having strengthening corrugations and projections to facilitate its function.

The invention will first be describedin connection with the drawings, and then pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, A represents the matchbox. It is made of thin sheet metal, as tin, brass, nickel, 850., out of suitable form, as shown, and slotted in the middle at a. The top and bottom edges are turned up, and the sheet is bent in the middle adjoining'the slot a, bringing the turned edges in contact and in position to be soldered and form a box too narrow to hold more than one row of matches at a time. To the bottom of this box is soldered, in the interior, a guide-plate l2, (shown detached in Fig. 9,) inclined toward the front of the box to facilitate the advance of them atches.

This plate is furthermore depressed at b to form a cavity for the reception of the matchelevating foot 0, and so that the bottom edge of said foot will not form a ridgein front of the advancing matches. This foot 0 is made of sheet metal bent in the form of a half-cone, with a projecting bottom. large enough to conveniently receive the lower end of a match, m, but with a tapering or conical upper end too small to engage with the lower erid of a short match, and made to direct it upon the projecting bottom. About half-way of the length of this foot the metal is cut and bent to form a projecting arm, 0, long enough to pass through the slot to of the box, and through a slot, d, in the slide D, to which it is riveted. This slide is made of thin sheet metal bent to embrace loosely the edge of the box; and to prevent it, after some use, becoming bent or jammed against the sides of the match-box, this slide is corrugated across the back, as at d, to stiffen, strengthen, and prevent it from bending under pressure. It is also formed with projections embossed thereon ,to prevent it slipping between the fingers of persons using it.

Within the upper part of the box is placed the strikerorigniter, formed of astrip of springsteel, 6, securely clamped at one end in a piece of sheet metal, f, bent around it at f by suitable mechanism, leaving the other end free to be elevated by a match in its passage out of the box A, the top of which is turned up ad- I jacent to the opening a for the free play of the striker. The bottom of. the clamp f is bent or inclined upward at the front end to direct the matches toward the opening a, kept in the top of the box for their exit. The striker-clamp is provided with lugs f, by which it is afterward soldered to the box through the opening a, and with a turned-up end,f for the same purpose. The front end of the striker is provided on the'under side with peculiar fanshaped serrations, which I have ascertained, after experimenting with various forms, to be the best for the purpose, as they more than combine the longitudinal and transverse grooves heretofore in use, but start the radial abrasions on the match-tip from one focus, from which ignition is thus induced with more certainty.

The match-cover G is also made of sheet metal suitably bent, and with round corners, where the metal is soldered from the inside, producing a strong joint and a smooth finish on the outside. Within this cover is soldered a bent plate, h. One of its functions is to form a stop for the edge of the box to abut against and prevent it from entering too far within the cover. I 'have provided the rear edge of the cover with a groove, g, against the sharp or slightly serrated edges of which a match held in the hand can be struckand'lighted, and this kind of striker will retain its efficiency for years; the bent plate h forming, then, also a shield to prevent ignited material entering the box. The rear of said shield may also be serrated.

I make these-match-boxes of three sizes. As the largest size is also suitable as'a stationary match-safe, I provide simple means for se curing it to walls, brackets, furniture, &e., these means being two screws, 8, passing from within the cover through holes 9 in its rear edge. In constructing boxes for the pocket these holes are generally omitted.

To advance thematches toward the from t of the box I have provided asubstantial spring-arm, I, having its free end'so bent as to press against the-matches about the middleof their length, whether the box is full or nearly empty. To secure this arm loosely but strongly to the cover of the box, I use a piece of thin metal, (as t'in,) k, bent first in the form shown in Fig. 8,to the lower end of which is riveted a transverse pin, is. The upper end, is then partly bent within and one end of the bent spring l clamped or secured thereby. The arm I having 'beenpreviously formed (at one operation) with a small notch or indentation, i, in the under side and a larger indent, i, in the upper side, the arm I is pressed on the spring I and along it until the transverse pin 70 enters the notch i and constitutes its pivot. The lower end of the arm abuts against the lower end of the piece is, and the lower end of thespring Z finds its seat in the larger indent i. When the pieces forming this attachment have been assembled the piece It is soldered within the cover, as shown in Fig. 3, in such a position as to be out of the way while filling the box with matches, as shown in Fig. 2. The lower end of the cover 'bein g cut away at y a stop is thus formed to retain the box at right angle to its cover while fully open. The cover is permanently secured to the box by a ,pin, a extending through the sides of both, and this pin is covered and protected by the inclined plate or guide I). Theupper edge, A, of the box is chamfered down to produce a close fitting of the cover on the box without straining the parts.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim 1. The combinationof the box A, guideplate b, depressed at b, and match-elevating foot 0, made conical or tapering at its upper end, substantially as and for the purpose described.

'2. The combination of the box A, slotted at a, a match-elevating foot having an arm projecting through said slot, and a slide, D, having corrugations, substantially as and for the purpose'described.

3. The combination'of the box A, s'h eet-meltal clamp f, provided with lugs f and f, and a spring-striker, 0, provided with fanshapedserrations, substantially as and-for the-purposedescribed.

4. The combination of the box A, cover G, groove -g in the edge thereof, and internal shield and "cover-stop h, subs'tantially as and for the'purpose described.

5. The combination of the box A, cover Gr, cutawayat g and pivoted to box, perforations;g, and screws 8, passing through the edge of the cover, substantially as and forthe purpose described.

6.- The "combination of a match-box cover, spring I, clamp 70, provided with a transverse pin, 7c,'and bent arm I, having indentations i and t", substantially-as "and for the purpose described.

7. The 'combin'ation-of'the box A, coverG, cover-stop h, clamp 70, having bent extremity k pivot-pin 7c, spring l,-and bent arm '1, substantially as-and for the purpose described.

FRANCIS S. DANGERFIELD.

Witnesses E. E. MASSON, W. B. MASSON. 

